FOOTAGE! of Eugene vs. Bischoff, from Taboo Tuesday. Frick - it's the whole match! And much of the post-match, including Vince and Coach. If you paid for it, you're a sucker.

It just so happens to be time for Raw, live from Des Moines, IA...and a Fashion Report, too!

Presently, Bisch, in backwards black leather "Harley Davidson" cap, black leather jacket, black tshirt and black jeans, with grey beard, comes to the ring and speaks. Bisch gives himself the night off and declares "tonight the inmates will run the asylum". Woohoo - I'm king, baby!

Evolution: HHH in black suit, black shirt and gold/black checkered tie, with shades, carrying the Title, Flair, forehead bandaged, in grey suit and black tshirt, and Batista, in grey suit and white shirt, comes to the ring. HHH declares that Evolution will be running the show tonight. Good thing Evolution had this segment, or someone else might have grasped power. Flair wants Orton and H books it. As if on cue, Orton, in black suit and white shirt, contests HHH's authority. HHH declares that, should Orton beat Flair, that Randy shall get a title shot at Survivor Series; if Flair wins, Orton will never get a title shot as long as HHH holds the title. If you paid for it, you're a sucker.

JR, in black hat, black suit, light blue shirt, and orange tie and hanky, with Lawler, in purple suit and black tshirt, play at being Greek Choristers. And they give the IC voting results, augmented with FOOTAGE! from Taboo Tuesday.

Shelton, in blue fullcuts with silver trim, wearing the IC Title, vs. Jericho, in shiny blue/pink web-silhoutte open shirt and blue reel-silhoutte tights. Chad "I'll allow it" Patton wears the stripes while he officiates. Mat wrestling to start, but Jericho puts a stop to that. Shelton attempts a splash, but winds-up going outside. Jericho off the top rope to join him. Both are down, so AdBreak arrives.

Cont. Both guys are back in the ring (how considerate). Oh - if you paid for this, you're a sucker. Shelton winds-up on the floor again - it's his new move! Walls countered into a bodyscissors->pin. Post-match the guys shake hands. While Shelton poses, Christian!, in red tights with black "C"s on white crests, attacks and poses over the fallen champ.

In the back, Evolution has cornered DivaSearchChick, but Jericho butts-in. This is silent theatre, folks. Maven arrives for more discomfort. Toss in some Benoit and we develop tension. The B-Team faces are on the scene, too.

The announcers introduce FOOTAGE!, hilighting Edge's role at Taboo Tuesday. Wait - if Edge drove away, why did he come back? Did he forget his hairbrush and, since the Title match was going on anyway, decide to ge involved in that, too? Edge's FOOTAGE! is a washed-out red/grey color.

JR is in the ring to interview Edge, in black leather jacket over white tshirt "via satellite". Edge does the whole "it was MY chance" spiel. He also works in the disprespected angle. Then Shawn Michaels, in black tshirt with white radiant "HBK" cross and blue jeans, on crutches, hobbles out to the ring. Shawn gives a "why we wrestlers do what we do" speech, pimping the fans, Taboo Tuesday, and HBK. It's okay, kids, he'll be coming back.

In the back, Maven bounces. Todd Grisham, in blue shirt and darker-blue tie stands-by to get some words. Batista butts-in, making this an awkward segment. Maven challenges Batista; the big man refuses, but once Maven slaps him, Batista's priorities change.

Nowinski and Mark Henry are at "The University of Wisconsin". Uh - whicn one? 'Cuz there are, you know, over a dozen of them. I'll just assume Madison, since Bucky Badger is there. (Why, yes, I'm a bitter Pioneer...bitches.)

Voting results, and FOOTAGE! of Kane vs. Gene.

William Regal, in black "Got Knuckles?" tshirt and red "Regal" undies vs. Snitsky, attacking from behind. Chris Kay is the referee. Squash. Post-match, Eugene pulls William to safety. And a horde of officials and trainers are out. Snitsky gets on the mic and give the "I'm a badass" spiel.

In the Room of Fun, Bisch and Coach kick back. Is Bisch eating pudding? (Not that it's important to the plot. Not that the writers would even THINK of such a thing being important to the plot.)

Smackdown! Rebound. Um, stuff happened. And that, and that. Well, this saved me two hours. Wait, I thought Al Snow was still the Heat guy. So, I guess he got traded" to SD!

In the Evolution lockerroom, HHH gets all bitchy towards the others. Flair pulls the team together with his incomprehensible rambling.

Flair, in black "Ric Flair" robe with silvered feathers and gold/silver sequins vs. Randy Orton, in red "Orton" undies with black/gold hip scrawls. Mike Chioda officiates the match, in stripes. Orton's offense consists of punching and back-bodydrops. But Orton also digs his shoulder into the ringpost, so AdBreak comes out for comic relief.

Cont. More punching by Orton. Flair eventually does a focus-on-the-knee/Figure-4 bit. Batista comes out, but Jericho, Maven, and Benoit all take it to him. Meanwhile, HHH delivers a chairshot to Orton. Flair drapes an arm for a pin. Post-match, Benoit, Jericho, and Maven stalk Flair and HHH. Face B-Team also is on-the-scene (wait - Rhyno's a face?). RKO for Flair. Kinda funny to see the B-Teamers body-surfing HHH towards the ring. Then HHH gets German Suplex'ed, Lionsault'ed, and RKO'ed. Send the crowd home happy.

Overall: If I had paid for Taboo Tuesday, I would be such a sucker. This show was okay; nothing to set my world aflame. It's a shame that Survivor Series is coming-up so soon;some of these plots might really be good, if they had time to play-out. (But I'm dreading, already, the inevitable Royal Rumble victory for Orton; I mean, it's the ONLY way he can get a title shot.)

Edit: Dang format. I swear, since I got my new computer, I routinely have trouble with the format.

(edited by ScreamingHeadGuy on 25.10.04 2215)

Some people need to learn how to take a joke. I'm ScreamingHeadGuy, and I approve this post.

Man, that sucked. One match in the first hour? Four matches total, two of which were squashes and two of which were PPV retreads? Plus, of course, wasting ten minutes rerunning the Eugene/Bischoff match and ensuing hilarity in its entirety. Does Vince really want to make sure nobody misses how much he humiliated Eric this time or what?

And whatever Flair had in his Grape-Nuts last Tuesday, he definitely didn't have another helping tonight. That was just dull.

If this is "the inmates running the asylum," then come back soon, Uncle Eric.

Wonder if the end was Triple H's way of responding to Patterson's complaints about him being too dominant. It was an entertaining spectacle, and the crowd loved it, but you know it ain't gonna last.

I'm also smelling a crappy edition of Raw, since this was boring as all get out. No matches above average, WAY too much time spent blowjobbing/recapping Taboo Tuesday, and an utterly dead crowd all adds up to a weak show.

Wow, this RAW was...interesting. Very different from the norm, and I kinda liked it. The Maven stuff reminded me of when Billy Kidman challenged Hogan, but Batista is no Hogan.

BTW, did anyone else go on wwe.com and do that interactive thing? You had a mini JAVA chat thing with polls and trivia giving you points. It was interesting, but also very AOL-ish. Neat idea, but poor execution. Not to mention they never mentioned it at all on TV.

And, here's my trivia: When was Lita's last real match? Its been at least 6 months I gotta think. I am gonna assume there is gonna be a Trish-Lita match at SSeries. Interesting to see how many spots she blows.

Multiple audio glitches.Nice match between Jericho and Benjamin, however, still the only non-taped match in the entire first hour.The Michaels speech would have at least been humorous if he said he had lost his smile, but the crowd helped him find it.Logic takes a holiday: Regal has been over, and he has been aligned with Benoit. Maven has never been over. Yet, Regal gets squashed, and Maven goes over Batista and takes what apparently would have been Michaels spot in the Dudes With Attitude. If Edge joins Evolution, that would put 4 on that side. There are 4 on the side of Dudes With Attitude. No real World Title opponent on the the RAW side. Maybe hell will really freeze over and the double ringed WarGames:The Match Beyond cage will be erected.Flair needed to break out 'Now, its time to go to school.' I miss the blue robe. If anyone can't see the Road to the Rumble and Mania being established with a Neon Sign, they aren't paying attention.Only took the faces 5 years to realize they have more people on their side of the locker room than Trip has allies.

Abandon Ship. Abandon Ship. Forget the women and children, get me a lifeboat.

Well, it didn't start off good, showing the WHOLE Bischoff/Eugene crap from Taboo Tuesday....Good to keep Bischoff's segment short....The Evolution interview was all-right, far from their best. Orton also did well....I thought this Benjamin/Jericho match was better than the one last Tuesday. The finish seemed the same though, with Jericho looking like he might sucker punch Shelton, instead, just shaking his hand....

I liked the Evolution/Christy/Jobbers backstage segment. Great way to include the other wrestlers in an angle or feud. And I like them going from Christy/Evolution right to Jericho/Evolution. Seemed realistic....Edge's interview was pretty good too....Didn't catch all of Shawn's, but from what I caught, it sounded like him just sucking up to the fans. Lot of Shawn signs in the crowd too....Also a number of ROH signs....The Maven/Batista match was decent for what it was. I didn't think Maven had a chance. Nice to see Batista add "shocked" to his array of facial expressions....

Snitsky/Regal wasn't much of a match, but it set up Gene as a loose cannon who could do ANYTHING at any moment. AND he got to work in his catchphrase....Was that "Skinner" Steve Keirn out to check on Regal?....Heel Trish is SO cool....Sorry, but Flair shouldn't go more than 10 minutes anymore. His moveset just isn't there to fill enough time....

Good post-match angle that got over the faces and made you look forward to Evolution's reply for next week....Flair didn't look right selling the RKO, though....REALLY good RAW, except the fact they had 2 rematches from last Tuesday, and showed the Bischoff/Eugene crap in it's entirety.

Shelton's reversal to the Walls of Jericho made my night. Very sweet move reminded me of something Kurt would do. It was a good night for faces which is something I enjoy since its few and far between with HHH as champ. The rightous beating of HHH made up for a set-up night for Survivor Series and possibly the Rumble. Its too bad they played their hand for Orton as the Rumble winner so early, I was kinda hoping for Cena. Of course, next week we could have a new GM and things might change. I do sense an Elemination Chamber match for Survivor Series which would be cool if the belt changed hands and it lasted more than a month.

I was there live and it was the first time in like two years that Stevie Richards didn't have a Heat match.

Plus no women's match.

These are the only reasons I watch wrestling anymore.

Fuck.

Lenny Lane will be on Heat though...that was kinda cool.

Ric Flair just calls his spots with no regard at all. He basically screams them all. He did the "elbow/knee drop the jacket thing" on the first segment about three times...he never seemed to get the right camera on him, so he kept trying.

Chris Jericho is officially the Tito Santana of his generation. Hard-working face, always seems to be over, will never win again. Not that Shelton should have had to job so soon after snapping up the title, but Jericho is everybody's job boy and it's damned annoying.

You know, Maven's nothing special but after Triple H lynched him while apparently doing the white power gimmick a couple years ago in his Booker T feud, Mave had some good karma coming. He looks good next to Benoit and Jericho, he doesn't stand out as shockingly inferior. He's got some presence. Seems to be able to talk. Now someone teach him to wrestle and we're set.

Edge sure seems convincing in his delivery. How he went from being one of the more popular Smackdown babyfaces to loathed on RAW still confuses me. Shawn on the other hand seemed very lame in his promo. That was so uncool it defied description. Just sad, when you think about how edgy and state-of-the-art this man used to be.

Liked the mess at the end, post-match. Came back for the overrun, after flipping away in an Orton-induced vomiting fit. I suppose this means they're headed to Wrestlemania with Orton/HHH. How can that be? Do it before then, please. I don't want to skip Mania.

I love Trish's promos, but that one with Lita was possibly the best one yet. I couldn't stop laughing when she kept puffing out her cheeks in Lita's face.

Also at the very start of the show, I was really beginning to think that RAW was having some serious technical difficulties and that they were showing the Bishoff/Eugene match to stall for time. I would have been kinda pissed if I had payed for Taboo Tuesday as I was watching the beginning of RAW.

Anyhow, I am slowly allowing Snitsky to become my favorite heel of all time. Baby Killer is AWESOME! Although I dont see why they havent planted a bunch of hippie looking people with "BABY KILLER" signs.

Maven gets the typical Maven win, very little offense, lots of getting his ass kicked, and then getting a fluke win. Its almost as sad as watching Flair paint by numbers.

Orton is BORING. Cant say that enough. BORING. Get him out of the Main event picture YESTERDAY!

.... Batista comes out, but Jericho, Maven, and Benoit all take it to him. Meanwhile, HHH delivers a chairshot to Orton. Flair drapes an arm for a pin. Post-match, Benoit, Jericho, and Maven stalk Flair and HHH.....

Overall... a very Maven-heavy show. He was like someone's little brother, always there whenever you fricken turn around.

Hey, when did Maven make so many friends?

The Goal: SLACKThe Method: The Casting Out of False ProphetsThe Weapon: Time ControlThe Motto: "Fuck Them All of they Can't Take a Joke"

Originally posted by StaggerLee Anyhow, I am slowly allowing Snitsky to become my favorite heel of all time. Baby Killer is AWESOME! Although I dont see why they havent planted a bunch of hippie looking people with "BABY KILLER" signs.

There was a GREAT sign (about 3-4 rows back on the left side of the front ring shot) that had the Randy Orton t-shirt logo but read GENE SNITSKY: BABY KILLER.

By the way, is it just me that every time he cuts a promo that cracks up hysterically and can't stop laughing?

Yeah, it was pretty odd to see Maven go from Heat guy to beating a member of Evolution & hanging out w/ Benoit & Jericho overnight.

Plus, anyone who didn't immediately say "fluke roll-up win for Maven" as soon as Maven slapped Batista hasn't been watching WWE TV for the last, oh, 2 years. Such a predictable outcome.

Overall, a pretty boring show. Taped the 1st hour, so the FF button got a good workout. Jericho/Shelton was OK, and a Christian/Shelton feud should be good. Downhill after that, though. Maven going from Heat to hanging out w/ ME-level guys? Regal getting squashed? Batista/Maven was predictable. Orton/Flair was awful. I found it funny that the crowd popped big for the Flair Flop, then Orton paused for a second, then hit his pose, thinking that the cheer was for him. Psst, Randy, that cheer was for the Flop, not you.

I was there live, too. My brother-in-law won VIP tickets and backstage passes so we had the pleasure of meeting Shelton Benjamin, Molly Holly, Hurricane, and Rosie before the show. Oh yeah, I guess Earl Hebner was there, too. I was kinda disappointed with the show overall, and I guess I'm not the only one becuase the crowd was in a coma most of the night. Big pops for Randy Orton and the guy shooting T-shirts into the crowd, though. Couldn't believe Benoit got demoted to Heat already, though his match with "Custom Chucky P" should be the Heat main event.

Arguing on the Internet is like running in the Special Olympics...even if you win, you're still retarded.

Did they mention at all that Benoit is now the Tag Team Champions? They showed Edge leaving him in the match from Taboo Tuesday during the Edge recap, but didn't show the end of the match where Benoit won. And unless I missed it or unless it was mentioned one of the many times that the audio dropped out, Benoit as a tag champion with Edge wasn't ever brought up. With pretty much no tag team scene at all on RAW, it seems like a pretty decent storyline could be Benoit dominating the rankings and being the Tag Team Champions by himself.

THE GOOD was Eric opening the show by giving himself the night off, and Edge's promo was a thing of beauty.

THE BAD was that there is NO WAY in hell Maven should ever go over a guy like Batista. Now we have a top face in Orton who is struggling to get over, followed by Maven, who will always struggle to get truly over.

Sheesh.

"Maybe I'm getting off topic, but this thread already sucks, so I don't feel bad about it. " -LotusMegami

"The only way TV Gangrel could change is if Real Gangrel changed." -Filipino Elvis

The ratings are still going way down overall. Let's not forget that we now consider a 4.1 to be a "bump" in the ratings when it's still less than RAW's average rating for 2001-2002. It's a trend that develops very slowly.